


Between Two Universes

by Lexitennant2



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Female Steve Rogers, Female Tony Stark, Genderswap, Howard Stark's Bad Parenting, I Tried, M/M, Out of Character, Parallel Universes, What Was I Thinking?, many other gender swapped Avengers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-09
Updated: 2018-06-12
Packaged: 2018-10-01 21:19:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10200581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lexitennant2/pseuds/Lexitennant2
Summary: Ok already, this is gonna be a pet project cause I can't get this idea out of my head so screw it.~ Every scientist on Earth wants to be remembered for something big. Sure Tony Stark is remembered for being a brilliant, play boy who happens to also be Iron Man; but then he finds out - low and behold- there's a little pocket universe, a parallel universe right alongside Earth.Reed Richards just so happens to be with him when a giant tentacle grabs him from the portal and sucks him in, leaving Tony to call in the Avengers.On the other side was what they never expected, it's not as parallel as they thought.





	1. Chapter | 1

**Author's Note:**

> So hopefully this doesn't bomb and crash. This will be updated here and there because I end up straying from the schedule.

Anthony Edward Stark is a man of business: brilliant, suave, and a fast talker. Since the age of 11 he could charm any buyers pants off, making them invest in his fathers company; which led to Howard Stark showing some love for his son before it was back to the beatings.

Now at the age of 45, he had risen above many others and owned his own business, discarding the weapons industry his father had for so long took control of. Tony had created Iron Man, saved countless lives, took down millions of bad guys. 

If only his father could see him now. Well...maybe not right now. Currently the genius,billionaire,playboy, philanthropist was covered head to toe in oil, grime, and dried blood. A ripped tank top and low riding jeans didn't help either. He didn't even bother with shoes or socks. He would much prefer his dead father to see him from the afterlife surrounded by women - father wouldn't approve men - wearing the finest of Armani suits, on a yacht...with bundles of money floating around him cause he was rich enough to not care the money was being soaked. He was rich right now, but no where near his father's approval. According to Howard Stark, the only way for Tony to truly be his son was either to morph into Captain America or suppress his father in wealth and status. The latter being surprisingly more difficult than the former. 

Tony felt the pain from his back sharpen and he focused on not hunching over the pile of metal in front of him. The pile of metal that had once been a part of the Iron Man suit. Today had been one of the more horrible villain days. Doom had managed to create a bunch of almost-super soldiers that had acid filled guns. Acid - at that high a concentrate - was not meant to pair with the Iron Man suit. The suit had begun dissolving in a matter of seconds, which caused Tony to flail in panic and nearly rip the suit off so he didn't dissolve along with it. Which meant the rest of the battle was him in his navy blue under suit - which was very awkward - and one of Natasha's knives. In the end he'd managed to not die or be shishka-bobbed - the soldiers also had swords- he only had a nice slice to the back and a bruise forming on his inner thigh. He would have to thank Natasha and Clint for the extra training or he would have been hurt a lot worse.

"Jesus Christ Stark." Tony turned in his seat to see a very worried, angry, and annoyed Steve staring at him with his hands on his hips.  
"Your back." Steve motioned towards Tony, who sat silent in confusion. Oh yeah...after the battle he'd returned to his penthouse immediately, changed clothes, and went down to the lab, meaning he hadn't seen the other Avengers for - he looked at the clock behind Steve's head - 5 hours.  
"Did you even think of telling one of us you were injured? Were you just gonna have Dummy or Butterfingers stitch you up?"  
Dummy - being within ear shot - gave a whirring noise in offense.  
"Well you know...bleeding back, thought someone would notice?" Tony said. Steve just raised an eyebrow. "Ok so maybe the fact that I wore that poncho the nice lady gave me at the end of the battle disguised my wound before you guys could notice , and maybe my poker face has been getting better."  
Steve rubbed his temples in annoyance. Yup...Tony was great at this, annoying the Avengers, but that's what you do to family right?  
"Where's your first aid kit?"  
"What?" Tony scrunched his eyebrows.  
" Your first aid kid. You know, medical supplies, stuff to help with your wounds?"  
"Oh..yeah. Dummy?" He glanced at Dummy and the robot was rushing off with a little beep. Steve watched it go with a little smile on his face which made him even more attractive - shut up Tony! Tony would have slapped himself if the 'American Dream' wasn't in front of him.

So sue Tony, he of course - and the entire world - had a crush on Captain America, Aka, Steve Rogers. Steve was a kind man, never asking for much, and always giving. He wrote poetry and sketched things that belonged in Art museums. He sang off tune, was surprisingly clumsy for a super-soldier when not in battle mode, got easily flustered and reverted to the most adorable Brooklyn accent when he was really angry. His voice was just deep enough to make Tony tremble, he always - and I mean always- smelled like something sweet and woodsy, his eyes were so blue that they could rival the ocean. It didn't help that he was built like a God, smiled with little dimples, and had big hands that could do a lot of things...and Dummy was back with the first aid kit. Tony did not need to be thinking of that kinda stuff at this moment.

Steve took the kit, giving Dummy a nod of thanks, and returned his attention to Tony.  
"Take off your shirt."  
Tony snorted. "People usually take me on a date first."  
Steve gave him an exasperated look at the line he obviously knew was coming, and Tony scowled. He turned away from Steve and lifted the back of the shirt up. He heard Steve walk closer, "I need the entire shirt off Tony."  
Tony bit his lip, glad Steve couldn't see his face. He took off the entire thing, but hugged it close to his chest instead of throwing it to the floor like usual when Pepper or Rhodey had to patch him up. But this was Steve. The perfect Steve that had no flaws. Tony was self-conscious, and having Steve see any glimpse of the arc reactor wasn't on his to-do-list at the moment. The other scars on his back couldn't be hidden, so he would just have to deal with that. 

He heard a stool being dragged across the floor and suddenly Steve's breath was hitting his back. He gulped - praying to the gods that this would be quick.  
"I need to sterilize the wound, it'll sting for a bit." Steve's voice was right at his ear and it took all of Tony's will not to jump. He felt coolness on his wound before a stinging sensation took over and he struggled not to make a sound.  
"You're doing good." Steve said as he rummaged through the med kit.  
"I have had a lot of practice." The bitter words came out before Tony could stop them. Steve seemed to still, sensing the words didn't mean that Tony's 'practice' came from being Iron Man.  
There was a silence, and Tony felt Steve's fingers trace a small scar on his left shoulder.

May 24th, age 9, tripped over the edge of the rug knocking down a Ming vase. Some of the vase had clipped the back of his shoulder. His mother had cried as Howard had locked him in a dark room for two hours for the damage done to the Ming. By the time the door was unlocked, the damage was done. Jarvis removed the piece of vase from his shoulder - Tony had been to scared to do it himself - and stitched it up, but there was scaring of course.

The silence was broken as J.A.R.V.I.S told them "Miss. Pepper Potts is requesting to see you sir."  
Tony jolted, Steve's fingers disappearing straight away. "Tell her to come on in."  
"Very well sir."  
Steve was just pulling out the needle and thread when Pepper stormed in from the elevator. She was a 5'9 woman of power, with flaming red hair to conflict with her usually calm demeanor. Her heels clacked on the labs floor, her hands clenching thick folders to her chest. The minute she saw the two men, she dumped the pile of papers onto a nearby lab bench and quickened her pace.  
"Tony." her tone was one with annoyance and worry, a tone her and Steve seemed to have a lot when regarding Tony. She slipped her hands all over his body, not caring her hands were getting stained. When she found no other injuries like the one on his back, she simply stepped back and wiped her hands on a blue rag.  
"I can take over from here Steve." Her lips thinned and she took the needle and thread from Tony. Steve looked up at her uncertainly but she just shook his head. "Bucky needs you down there anyway. A code 5."  
Steve's eyes lit up and he stood from the stool quickly.  
"I swear to god Rogers, if I come up and see Bucky has burned down my kitchen again."  
Steve was already being whisked away by the elevator by the end of the sentence and Tony huffed.

A few weeks after Bucky had moved into the tower, he had tried to cook a dinner for the Avengers as a thank you. He had nearly burned down the entire floor. Only Darcy, Bruce, Wanda, and Sam had been there that day to witness the horror, the other Avengers were taking on a threat that didn't need everyone to be there. When Steve had returned with the others, he had explained that Bucky was a disaster in the kitchen. "Would have been nice to know before." Had been Tony's response to see the blackened counters and stove. Since then they had set up code 5- Bucky is trying to cook.

Pepper flicked his ear before hugging him hard, careful of his wound, but also not caring that her probably $500.00 green dress was being ruined. "You are an idiot." She fondly ruffled his hair and sat on the stool behind him and scooted it up further. Within a few minutes he was all stitched up and he gladly put his shirt back on.  
"You are absolutely reckless." Pepper stood up from the stool and grabbed the folders she'd set down earlier. "I come here to remind you that you need to sign these forms and actually attend some meetings this week - yes Tony, just because I'm CEO doesn't mean you aren't needed - and low and behold you have another injury. What if the knife had hit bone?" Pepper slammed the folders down hard and yanked a sheet out.  
"This is an authorization for a bigger work space on floor 15. Those idiots only have 6 people in that department and they want more floor space." Pepper thrust the paper back into its folder. "All of these need to be signed by tomorrow, except the stupid ones like that one." She bit her lip and looked over at the scrap of metal glistening in the over head lights.  
"That could have been you." her voice hitching with emotion.  
"Hey, whoa there." Tony said as she slid into his lap and buried her head into his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her in an old and familiar embrace.  
"Tell your problems to the wise one."  
Pepper hit his arm half heartily. "That was just a really close call Tony."  
He rubbed her back in what he hoped was soothing circles. "This just helps me prepare for the next battle. Yes I am extremely disappointed about my suit, and yes I know I should have been more careful, but now I can design an Iron Man suit that is resistant to acid!"  
Peppers only reply was to tighten her hold on Tony. 

________________________________________________

The theory of a parallel universe is quite common. Ranging from tv shows to books, the theory has been broadcast everywhere. Everyone has a theory of their own on how to access the parallel universe - or how and why the universe had formed. 

Tony was man of science. He had heard about wormholes, time travel. Just because one of his best friends was a God, and he knew an annoying sorcerer, did not mean that he himself believed in a parallel universe. He was just stubborn that way, he had to see it with his own eyes. 

After Pepper had stitched him up, they had gone upstairs to the Avengers room, the common area for Avengers and their guests. 

Steve had been playing pool with Sam, Bucky, and Thor, when he looked up at saw Tony, his pool stick nearly ripping up the green felt as he misaimed. Sam started cackling, slapping Steve on the shoulder. The super soldier just shrugged, his entire face going red.

There’s the flustered look I love. Tony froze, then shook himself physically. He did not need those thoughts. Even if Steve liked guys - which Tony highly doubted - he’d never go for Tony. Selfish and broken Tony. 

“I’ll get you a pen.” Pepper directed him towards the kitchen island before going off in search of said writing tool. Tony lay the folders down gently, settling himself down on the velvet cushioned stool. Pepper returned with the pen and he opened the first folder and pulled the entire stack of paper out. 

“Since when did we start losing sales in the Stark phone?” Tony frowned, his eyes scanning over the percentage droppage on the paper. “You do know you’re not alone in this? There are other competitors - one being Apple - and they just dropped their iphone 7.” Pepper was rummaging in the fridge before surfacing to give him a stern look while holding a yogurt. “I would suggest an upgrade.” 

Tony rolled his eyes. Of course they would have to upgrade the phone so they could move up their stock value. “What if we added another chat app? They seem to go crazy for those.” He began scribbling ideas on the side of the sheet. A cheer came from behind him and he struggled not to turn around. Today was about business...for once.

“Don’t do that, you have to just sign and return it.” Pepper scolded. She set her yogurt down and went into a kitchen drawer and pulled out a yellow note pad. She set it in front of Tony and started opening her yogurt.

For about the next hour Tony signed and signed, taking breaks to write down ideas on the note pad. A small hand landing on his shoulder got him out of his work daze. Turning his head, he looked up at Natasha’s curious face.

“Since when do you do actual work?” She asked with a small smirk forming. He stuck his tongue out and let her run her fingers through his hair. She rested her chin atop his head and peered down at the folder waiting to be open. Tony was proud to say he was almost finished - only 3 more folders.

“The IT department seems to be busy.” She mused, watching as Tony flipped through the folder. More than half the papers there seemed to be about the IT floor. “They’re freaking out because of the Stark Expo next week.” Tony chuckled signing the line for extra cash to be directed to the department. He knew he could trust Jesse with handling her IT minions and making sure the money was used properly.

“Planning on going full out.” He twisted in his seat, which made Natasha grumble when she had to move. “What’s the occasion?” She asked, placing a hand on her hip, her classic eyebrow arch showing her true curiosity. 

“We haven’t had one in a while.” He flashed her a grin. “AccuTech, Cordco, and Stark-Fujikawa need a little loving.” He jumped up from the stool and stretched his arms up over his head. “And it just so happens to be Pepper’s birthday so I’m doing a mix of the expo and her party, though there will be just a little get together here in the tower after.”  
Natasha smiled at the news. “Sounds great. Did you already tell the others?” 

Tony’s smile vanish, and this time he really did hit himself. “I forgot.” He groaned and turned to write down a note on another sheet of the pad.  
He ripped it and placed it on the fridge. “There we go, big message explaining everything on the one thing everyone will see. J.A.R.V.I.S can remind them 2 days before the expo right?”  
“Yes Sir.”

“There you go.” Tony gave a thumbs-up to Natasha and headed towards the couch where Wanda and Bruce were eating chips and watching Die Hard.  
“Never took you guys as fans.” He jostled Bruce out of the way and squeezed in between the two.  
“Hulk likes it.” Bruce said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. Finally, someone who wasn’t using that tone with Tony!  
Wanda just shrugged and ate another chip. “It is not bad.” Her thick accent was somewhat comforting to Tony and he relaxed his head against her shoulder. She shifted to accommodate him before eating another chip. “This Willis guy is a good actor.” She commented. Clint appeared at her side - from god knows where, Tony didn’t want to know - and began talking to her about the movies Bruce Willis was in.  
“Pulp Fiction.” Tony broke in, causing their heads to swivel to face him. “It’s a great movie even without him, I mean it has Uma Thurman; one of her best roles I think.”  
Clint leaned closer. “Uma is always good, but she was definitely the best in Kill Bill, hands down.”  
“Of course you would think that way.” Tony returned his attention to the tv.  
“Hey!” Clint squawked reaching across Wanda to grab a chip and pelt it at Tony. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Tony just laughed, throwing a chip in retaliation.  
Steve just watched with a small smile on his face.


	2. Chapter | 2

The sun was starting to stream into the bedroom, lighting the room up with a light glow. Tony shifted, grunting when the suns rays hit him square in the face. He rolled over and slid out of the bed, sinking to the floor with his eyes squeezed shut. He had a massive hangover and and his throat felt sore. He struggled to remember what had happened last night. 

Grueling battle- beat Clint at pool- Thor got out some of his mead...reminder not to drink more than 1 glass of that stuff. Tony stood up slowly, and headed in the general direction of the bathroom. His eyes were still adjusting to the bright light coming through the blinds. The blinds were usually closed, so he knew J.A.R.V.I.S had opened them, probably as punishment. He really did give the AI too much personality. 

So that's why not even five seconds into walking slightly blind - he face planted not a minute later. His knees slammed into the floor and his hands luckily cushioned his face. "FUCK!" He yelped his body half hanging off the thing he'd tripped on. With slow movements, he pushed up to all fours, and stared down at an impassive Clint. 

"Mornin." Clint gave a little wave from his curled up position on the floor.  
"What the hell are you doing here?" Tony asked, settling into a kneeling position.  
"Was 'bout to ask you the 'ame question." Clint slurred, rubbing his eyes with one hand. He looked around with a small frown on his face. "Oh." Realization dawned on his face.  
"No more Asgardian Mead for a long time." Tony sighed, getting up and heading toward the bathroom, needing a well deserved shower.

After finishing his shower - and not thinking of Steve, definitely not thinking of Steve - he entered his room with a dark blue towel wrapped around his waist and bright blue bunny slippers. Pepper was sitting on the edge of his bed, a smile parting her lips when she took in the slippers. "Only the best for the best." He grinned, stopping front of her.  
"What brings you to my humble abode?; Aren't you supposed to be on a flight to Los Angeles right now?"  
Pepper just shook her head. "The flight got delayed." She crossed her legs, "Also Reed called a few minutes ago."

Tony grimaced slightly. "Do I have any meetings I can use as an excuse to escape him?"  
Pepper gave him a disapproving look. "Any meetings today you wouldn't attend anyways; but coincidentally there are none." 

Tony frowned and headed over to his dresser, dropping his towel on the way. After 5 years of being with Pepper, he honestly didn't care if he was naked around her and vice versa.  
He picked out a pair of silk dark blue boxers and slid them on easily, ignoring the large scar - that ran across the side of his thigh - like he did every morning. To be honest, Pepper was the only one of his ex's to ever see all of him. Usually he'd wear have the lights off and his shirt on during any sexual activities, but Pepper had peeled away so many defenses, but in the end - unknowingly - replaced those layers and added more. He had only started hiding from his lovers when his father's beatings had become to noticeable; and then his arch reactor became the sole of his life. Knowing that the only thing keeping the shrapnel from entering his heart, scared the ever loving shit out of him. He hated seeing the damaged tissue surrounding the blue light, making the other surrounding scars brighter. He hated seeing all those scars; the scars if the past reminding him of his father, the scars of the present reminding him of his fuck-up and misfortunes. 

"Anyways. Reed wants to meet you for lunch..I think. He was so exited that all I could understand was to meet him at La Gazina at noon." Pepper stood up and yanked the AC/DC shirt Tony was grabbing from the floor.  
"Please look nice, it's a 5 star restaurant." She pulled her phone out and scrolled through her photos. "Wear this one." She showed her phone to Tony and he rolled his eyes. "As if I know where that is Pep, as it is, how do you have a picture of that?"  
"I used to buy most of your formal wear." she paused and pushed him towards the large walk in closet. "Its at the far end over there, before the leather jackets."  
He shot her a pout and headed to the back, pulling the shirt out and then laying it on the watch display case. He pulled out a Rolax with a brown band and slipped it on before making a show of slowly putting on the shirt.  
Pepper rolled her eyes. "You have one hour." She turned on her heels and left. 

Tony was out a few minutes later with the black silk shirt with the top two buttons undone, tan slacks, tan blazer, and black loafers. Perched on top of his head was a pair of purple shaded sunglasses.

He walked over to the elevator and leaned against the mirrored back. "Wonder what Mr.Fantastic wants." He thought out loud, putting the shades on over his eyes. 

Tony and Reed were close friends, though sometimes Tony couldn't help but wonder how they could be. They bashed heads a lot, both being arrogant asshole genius'. Tony had met Richard at Harvard, back when Tony had only been 15. Howard had been asked to do a lecture, so he brought his prodigy son. Tony had been dragged around, meeting with various staff members that gushed and prodded at him, pleased with this politeness and his intellectual answers.Tony had learned from a young age how to charm the pants off of people, so that's what he did, with his father hovering nearby. 

Howard and Tony had were brought to the lecture hall and he'd finally managed to slip away from his father after being introduced to the bored looking class subjected to Howard business with electronics lesson. Tony gave a mini speech about biotech, and Stark Industries new corporation Accutech. It'd been a bright sunny day in '87 and Tony had felt completely relaxed wondering the outside of the campus. He didn't bother to hide himself from the groups of students who flocked to him. He was more relaxed at moments like these, were he could spend time actually meeting with people impressed with his tech, and not just being forced to talk to people looking for brownie points with his father. 

Reed Richards had been 20 at the time, a stumbling mess of lanky limbs and short brown hair. He slammed into Tony after the latter had parted from a particularly frisky group of college girls. Papers and lab equipment had gone flying everywhere. 

"Fuck, shit, mother fucking shit." Tony just winced at the twinge in his hip where a heavy textbook had hit him. Reed was trying to collect all his papers, swears coming out a mile a minute. 

Tony cracked a smile the minute the college student looked at him. "Oh my god Tony Stark, I mean Mr.Stark." Reed was becoming more flustered by the second and Tony laughed. "Just Tony, Mr. Stark is my father."  
"Yes, sure. Tony." He seemed to mull the name over. "Reed Richards, its an absolute pleasure to meet you." He grabbed Tony's hand in his, shaking it. "I've been trying to write a paper to help support your idea of biometrics in the Pentagon. " Reed was rushing right in and Tony didn't really mind. He could sense the older man was smart and he'd obviously didn't want to go back to his father.

"Well Reed, take me to the cafeteria and show me what you have so far."

They had become close friends almost right after, thick as thieves. Of course they had their struggles, they were both stubborn geniuses, but it always worked out in the end.


	3. Chapter | 3

ON ANOTHER EARTH

 

Toni trumped slowly into the kitchen, her eyes focusing on a small blue bowl on the kitchen table. When she reached it, she slid her body lazily across the table to try and grab the bowl . Snagging the edge of the bowl, she tugged it towards her and began chomping down on the unshelled peanuts. Dignity and grace be damned.

"I take it you haven't eaten in a while?"

Toni turned around in her chair with her hand still shoving in peanuts to meet the disapproving eyes of Steph - aka Captain America. The blonde was frowning and had her arms crossed over a plain blue t-shirt. 

" 'aybe." Toni tried to reply. Steph gave her an exasperated look and headed towards the fridge. " 'aybe I 'ust eat fast." Toni swallowed the last of the peanuts giving her companion a scowl. Steph glanced up from her hunt in the fridge to roll her eyes, making Toni's scowl deepen. "We have lived together for about 2 years now, I know you, and that was the lamest excuse you have ever given me." Steph returned her attention to the contents of the fridge and pulled out a small container and a plastic wrapped plate. She closed the door with her hip and set everything on the counter.

"You should make yourself something more filling." Steph glanced over her shoulder and cast a frown at the peanuts and began unwrapping the plate. "J.A.R.V.I.S how long has it been since Toni ate a proper meal?" The emphasis on proper made Toni flinch. 

" 63 hours ma'am." 

"Traitor." Toni murmured, Steph tossed her an unreadable look before putting the plate in the microwave. She then uncovered the container and set it in front of Toni with a fork. Toni eyed the mixed vegetables apprehensively. "Do you want me to heat it up?" Steph asked quietly. Toni shook her head quickly and bit into the vegetables. Steph returned her attention to the microwave and Toni was given a moment to blatantly stare at her best friend.

Stephanie Grace Rogers was gorgeous, no doubt about it; from her naturally wavy blond hair that just reached her shoulder, to her slippered feet. Even though she was slightly of a more muscular frame than most females, it didn't deter Toni from having dreams upon dreams of America's sweetheart.

The microwave beeped, startling Toni. Steph pulled out the plate and set it in front of Toni. Spaghetti stared up at Toni and her stomach rumbled making Steph laugh. Toni just dug into the pasta, being careful not to wolf it down as Steph watched her patiently.

Suddenly Steph gave a yawn - which Toni found extremely cute - and stretched her arms over her head - allowing some skin to show above her waist band and boy Toni was feeling funny. "I'm going to head back to bed." She looked slightly reluctant but another yawn took over. "I'll have J.A.R.V.I.S tell me if you didn't finish everything." She walked behind Toni and rested a hand on the smaller girls shoulder. "Goodnight Tones." She gave a comforting squeeze and left, leaving Toni missing her warmth. 

 

The next day Toni got a text and her mind started whirling in different directions. "Why do you look like you're gonna explode." Clint grunted, walking into the common area in his robes. Toni bounced up excitedly from her seat, nearly knocking over her coffee. "Reed says the portal is firing up, somethings coming!"  
Clint stood stock still. "You're excited, why are you excited. We should be getting the other Avengers, who knows what'll come through." Clint crossed his arms, striding closer to Toni.

Ever since Loki had invaded two years ago, Clint had been wary of magic and portals alike. The fact that half a year ago Reed and Toni had managed to build a portal to another universe had Clint more jumpy than usual when visiting the Baxter building. Toni could understand but the portal itself was a miracle.

"Yes, yes I know. But think of it, we have finally managed to activate it properly enough that we can make contact with another planet!" Clint just glared down at her. "We would have another way for you to get to Asgard." Clint blushed at this. Clint had managed to strike up a big crush on one of the Asgardian soldiers, which Toni used as leverage multiple times. 

"Shut up." He backed off though. "I'm still going to have some of the team come with, so wait for us." He gave her a pointed look before retreating the way he came from. Toni grinned manically and downed her coffee. She ran to the private elevator that would lead to her pent house and barley could contain her squeal. She was going to finally meet a being from another planet.

 

Toni stared confidently at the portal, her hands on her hips.  
"Welcome to Earth....hey Nat, you think they speak English?" She turned to look at the Russian sitting in a swivel chair. Nathaniel Romanov looked up from the gun he was polishing and frowned. "No idea Toni." his lips pulled into a thin line as he looked at the portal. 

Toni sighed, the other Avengers present were acting the same - tense, aggravated, unhappy with Toni. Wanda seemed to be the only one who looked happy with the portal, her natural curiosity had her studying the portal up close - causing Pietro to freak out slightly. He'd attempted to remove Wanda away from the large white circle, containing the portal , but Wanda did as she wanted. 

It was just the Fantastic's, Clint, Wanda, Pietro, Steph, Toni, Nathaniel, and Bucky. Toni had managed to convince not everyone to come, her and Reed were pretty confident that the only thing coming through the portal was a non threat. They had scanners set up for height, retinal scanning to try to place whomever came through if they could - they had Thor on video chat for help - and a scanner for weapons, even biological ones. 

The portal started to glow a dark red around the edges and a crackling noise filled the room as a white light appeared in the middle of the machine. Reed was running around, pressing buttons on the control panel. The Avengers were tensed , swarming into attack position. The light glowed brighter, expanding. Toni straightened her suit - a lovely beige silk with a hint of rose. She had even brushed out her long hair, tying it into a loose ponytail.

Three figures appeared through the portal. A woman with short curled red hair who was glaring at everyone, a black body suit clutched her curves, to her left was a man with many straps around his body and thick black clothing resembling what Jamie wore. He had hair hanging in front of his face and a metal arm with a very familiar red star painted on it. Toni's eyes widened comically. Did Reed and her open a portal to a parallel universe because that man up there matched well to the Winter Soldier currently standing by Steph's side. The red head seemed to be a shoe in for Nathaniel also.

The last person, who was barley even an inch taller than the red headed woman, walked a step forward. He had piercing brown eyes, messy brown hair, and a carefully shaved goatee. He wore slacks, a black silk shirt, and had sunglasses perched on his head. A familiar looking black object was being pulled from inside his jacket . 

"What the fuck did you do to Richards?" The man growled out raising the gun so it was pointed directly at Toni's face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so this is more of a filler chapter, to show a little bit of Earth 2. It also does a little sneak preview of the following chapter.


	4. Chapter | 4

Tony was seated at a small table near the back of the restaurant. It was a three story building with a restaurant on each floor, La Gazina was nestled on the second floor. It was a richly decorated place with fine velvet booths, and thick oak tables. There was a small stage with a piano and microphone, and a bar. People were talking in hushed conversations, music was playing softly in the background - possibly Goodbye to Rome, Tony wasn't sure.

Tony felt a hand land on his shoulder, and he looked up into Reed's energetic face. "Reed." He smiled, taking the hand from his shoulder and shaking it firmly. 

Reed quickly sat down, waving over a waiter. "Tony it's really great to see you, truly." Reed turned his attention to the waiter and ordered wine, dismissing the man with out so much as a cursory glance. "I have exciting news, news I didn't think would happen in my life time." Tony raised an eyebrow, used to Reed being excited with everything he created.

"As you know, I have been making progress with portals recently." Tony let out a snort much to Reed's disdain. "Just because some of the attacks here are due to something coming through my portals...."  
"More than half are because of your portals." Tony pointed out. Reed snapped his mouth shut, glaring. The waiter arrived with the wine and some bread sticks. Tony was more polite, and asked for an order of calamari, his charm switched on. The waiter seemed happier to deal with Tony than the suddenly frosty Reed.  
When the waiter left, Tony took a sip of wine and settled himself back into the chair, waiting for Reed to continue.

"If you can refrain from making jokes." Reed said. "I think I have managed to reverse the portal. Well not so much reverse, but allow us to go to the other side."  
Tony raised both eyebrows, shocked.  
"You mean you managed to make the portal a two way trip." He was smiling despite himself. Had Steve been there, he'd highly disapprove.  
"Yes Tony, isn't it wonderful. I was working on it about a week ago out of boredom and suddenly the control panel started blinking. I thought I might have tripped a wire or something but then the scanner came on." He paused to bite off a good portion of bread stick. "I called Ben in for help and suddenly the machine just turned on. The portal just opened up and we just stood there for a good portion of time but nothing happened."

The waiter came back with the calamari and Tony started talking about the stock his company was invested in. This really wasn't the best place to be talking about portals but he didn't know if he could drag Reed back to the lab before the story was finished. The scientist was to eager, nearly bouncing in his seat waiting for the waiter to leave.

"Then suddenly, you won't believe what came through." Reed gushed. "A pen came through."  
Tony felt his smile drop a bit. "A pen?"  
"Yes a pen." Reed leaned forward on the table. "Do you want to know why this pen was so extraordinary?"  
"Enlighten me."  
"It said STARK Industries on it."  
Tony's mouth opened and closed confused. "So, I tested the portal and tossed one of my pens back, giving the STARK pen to Ben to scan. I wanted to see if maybe the portal opened for some reason inside your building. Though there were some subtle differences, you have gold pens, this one was red." Reed paused, clearly pleased Tony was hanging on every word.  
Tony frowned. "Well go on before you explode."  
"Usually if I try to send something through, it bounces right back. But the pen went right through, and a moment later another pen came through. Then suddenly the portal closed." Reed cut into one of the calamari, dipping it in the side sauce. "The scan was completed a while later, and everything we could get from the pen was similar to what we find on Earth, but there were too many things that didn't match up to our Earth, such as the material of the pen."

Tony's smile took over his entire face. "A parallel universe." He whispered.  
"Exactly." Reed grinned.  
"Well, what are we waiting for. We're going to your lab." Tony tossed some money on the table and grabbed Reed by the elbow, the duo bolting toward the exit.  
Tony paused and returned to the table, leaving behind a confused Reed. Tony grabbed the plate of Calamari and hurriedly went back to the exit. 

___________________________________

 

"Looks smaller than the last time I was here." Tony commented, flipping through a science journal magazine he found on the lab table closest to him.  
"Had to do some renovations. Sue doesn't want me using the entire lab until I learn my lesson from last time." Reed motioned to a wall that was a different color than the rest of the lab.  
"They put up a concrete wall to separate the lab, which I feel is stupid. It's a waste of money, energy, and I could still find a way in."

While Tony did agree it was a stupid concept, he had to side with Sue. Over the past decade, Reed had managed to be the cause of almost all the aliens, monsters, and ghouls that appeared in Manhattan. He could make portals appear out of thin air it seemed. Any experiment he did was handled like a nuclear bomb, everyone was unsure what would pop out of the dimension Reed had opened. Maybe smaller lab and less equipment would give a break to the rest of the world of Reed's failed projects. 

"Luckily, the portal was on this side." Reed continued, walking briskly to the end of the lab where a giant white sheet covered what Tony assumed to be the machine. It had wires attached to it, and all Reed had to do was pull a lever and the sheet was lifted off. Underneath was a white, plastic looking, circle. It reached to the top of the lab at 12 feet and seemed to be about 6 feet wide. It was balanced on a platform you had to access by stairs and had steel and old timely machines next to it. 

"It's right out of an old movie." Tony frowned. The technology didn't seem exactly sound, the control machines looking like they came from Frankenstein's era. 

"The Machines are all up to speed, on the inside at least. I had to dig these up, they're the only compatible machines; I just had to do a little adjusting and voila, a portal opener."

Tony clapped politely, walking up the steps to investigate closer.

"The rest of the Fantastic's know about this?" Tony asked. Reed kept silent and Tony rolled his eyes. "As much as I love this, you kind of have some issues. Such as, are we sure when the portal opens again it will be to that 'parallel universe'?."

"Absolutely positive. I have calibrated the material of the pen to be as a sort of beacon, so the machine on their side can home in on the pens signal, which is the only thing on this Earth that is giving off the same waves as their Earth."

"I'm honestly surprised this didn't start working sooner, given your reputation." Tony stepped inside the circle, tracing a finger along the inside, finding the interior smooth and cool.

Reed looked offended. "The machine needed to connect to one like itself, that's the only explanation I can think of. They must had started getting theirs "online" around the same time I did and now we're finally connected." Reed walked over to a touch screen computer and began typing. "I'd also get out of there if I were you. I want to start opening the portal now."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa there Reed. I don't need some gigantic space demon thing for Earth 2 to just come waltzing in here." Tony whipped out his cellphone and dialed the Avengers.

"I would advise you to get the rest of your group as well." Tony said grimly. "Who knows what's on the other side."

 

A few hours later, everyone was gathered. Well, mostly everyone. Sam, Vision, Clint, and Scott had gone to Europe, Thor and Loki were still in Asgard, and Johnny was in med bay.

"I don't like this." Steve said for what seemed like the hundredth time. Tony watched as the arms crossed over Steve's chest tightened in annoyance and worry. "Don't worry about it Cap. State of the art technology is being used here." He placed a hand on Steve's shoulder and leaned in. "At least with me around we have more of a chance not blowing something up."

Steve threw him a I-don't-believe- that-look and turned his attention to watch Reed. He was using his stretched out limbs to flip switch after switch, and turn dials so he wouldn't have to move from the computer. A graph was pulled up and it kept going up and down, Tony assumed that it was the percent of alignment with the other portal.

Natasha looked incredibly uneasy, which was a feet for the normally stoic Agent. "You sure Reed didn't just dream this up?"

Tony felt bad that Natasha was doubting on one of his closest friends, but he could understand her concern. It would be just like Reed to have fallen asleep in the lab and dreamed the entire encounter. Tony was about to giver her reassurance when it felt like the entire air shifted. The hairs on the back of Tony's neck seemed to stand at attention and he widened his eyes at the portal. There was a white light shining in the middle, and it was getting larger.

Reed quickly tossed a pen in and for several seconds no one seemed to move or even breathe. The portal turned a dark blue on the corners and then a gigantic crate came through, nearly knocking Bucky in the head.

"That didn't happen before." Reed said nervously, walking closer to the portal.

"Richards." Steve warned, slowly reaching for the shield on his back. 

The next moment seemed to be in slow motion. Reed turned to face them, his back to the portal, a sheepish grin on his face. Then a large black shape came through the portal and wrapped around Reed. He immediately tried getting out of its hold, stretching his body every which way with no use. The black form took the shape of a tentacle, but it seemed to be flickering, like it couldn't hold its shape for that long, and then Reed was pulled into the Portal. 

"Reed!" Sue yelled, heading full force towards the portal. Ben grabbed her quickly, pushing her behind him as she struggled. The portal returned to just the bright white light, the blue tint gone.

"Fuck." Tony ran a hand through his hair in frustration and ran over to the machines. He started typing on the computer, trying to pull up the data from the last few minutes. "Goddammit Reed." He hissed, realizing what had happened. 

Bruce walked over, Steve taking the roll of calming down Sue. Ben had walked over to one of the machines just as it began sparking.

"I take it you can explain what happened?" Bruce asked, biting his lip in worry.

"Reed and his fucking portals." Tony growled. He twisted to face everyone, clapping his hands loudly to get everyone's attention.

"We got good news and bad news people." He pointed towards the machine that had stopped sparking. "Bad news,that machine is responsible for stabilizing the portal. It was fine when it connected to the other portal because its a door, in and out through one exit is okay. But, something triggered and opened a second portal, for a brief second, allowing that tentacle thing in. The good news is that it wasn't a problem on our side that caused the other portal to open up, but the other. And, I'm pretty sure if we get Peter here he can fix that machine and open the tentacle portal again. For references sake, Portal 1 is the portal we actually wanted to open, and Portal 2 is the tentacle portal." 

Tony then walked over to Sue and gripped her by the shoulder. "I promise we will find your husband." 

Sue was a strong woman, right up there with Pepper and Natasha, but she collapsed into Tony like a sack of potatoes. Tony tired to hide the wince by turning his face into her hair. He wasn't one for comforting, that's what he had Steve for. The only comfort he'd ever had was his mother. His father had thought him weak for seeking hugs and touches even though he was only 6. 

He slowly untangled himself from Sue and started walking towards the portal. 

"Tony." 

Tony could hear Steve's heavy footsteps approaching but he was already assessing the portal. "I'm gonna go through, asses what the problem was on their side, try to fix it and then come back."

"Tony." Steve placed his hand on Tony's shoulder. "What kind of ridiculous idea is that?"

"Its not ridiculous. Whoever is on the other side is responsible for fucking things up and getting Reed kidnapped. I need to go fix it, they don't know anything happened." Tony growled trying to move away from the iron grip.

"I'll go with." Natasha walked a step forward, her body aligned that she was facing the portal and both men. "He'll need back-up as we are unsure what's on the other side."

She raised an eyebrow when Steve gave her one of his disapproving glares. "I'll go too then, Wanda, go contact Peter to inform him of what happened and that we need him."

"No." Tony spoke and the hand retreated from his shoulder, and he found himself missing the warmth immediately.

"No?" Steve asked, tilting his head in utter confusion. 

"No, you're not coming with. Once Peter manages to open fix that machine, Portal 1 will close and Portal 2 will open - shhh Steve let me finish - You'll lead a team into Portal 2 to retrieve Reed. I'll be with Natasha trying to figure out what's on the other side, and try to fix their machine so that when I open Portal 1 up again, nothing bad happens." Tony walked back to the computers and pulled up more graphs. 

"Reed managed to get a good layout of Portal 1. Natasha and I will be gone for 2 days, that gives you enough time to bring back Reed, and come through Portal 2 just as I switch it over to Portal 1." His face became grave. "Make sure your team is back here in exactly 48 hours from when you land on the otherside, I may not be able to reopen portal 2 again after I switch it to Portal 1."

"But Tony-" Steve tried to object again but Bucky interrupted him.

"I'll go with Tony and Natasha. I'm a super soldier just like you Steve so there's nothing to worry about." He slapped Steve hard on the back and started walking towards the Portal. "Tony's right. He can't be in both places so you're the best chance at leading a team to get Reed."

"At least get more gear." Steve pleaded.

"We always come prepared." Tony said with a wink, before pushing Bucky and Natasha closer to the portal. "The portal won't switch to Portal 2 right away, I have to do that manually from over there. Give it 20 minutes then go through." Tony threw one last look back at a wounded looking Steve and gave a small smile.

"It's not the last time you'll see me Cap." He said just soft enough that only Bucky and Steve could hear him because of their enhanced hearing. Then they were flying through the portal.

So, portal traveling was something quite thrilling and trippy. Tony hadn't felt this way since college; which was either a good or bad thing depending on your definition. "Am I losing my mind?" He asked aloud. Bucky was clutching his arm, eyes closed shut so he was no help. Natasha just dug her fingers into his hand and looked around. The entire set up was crazy. First off they weren't falling as Tony thought they should be, they were walking on pure black. The rest was white backgrounds and colored dots the size of oranges or apples. 

Is that Asgard?" Tony squinted at a dark blue dot. There were no symbols to identify the dot, it was just a feeling in his gut. Just like he could tell the orange one next to it was another Earth, and the light pink one was Atlantis. 

Natasha just pursed her lips and urged him forward. "That one." She said pointing at a dark green dot. 'Earth 6' flashed through his head and he felt drawn to it. He watched as Natasha touched it; he felt a weird pressure in his stomach and they were pulled into it and suddenly Tony was blinking in front of a large group of people that looked almost identically like the Avengers on what he was assuming - or hoping, because it'd be nice to be the first - Earth 1. 

A petite woman in red heels and a pantsuit was grinning madly at them. 

Now normally, Tony would introduce himself and charm his way through the crowd; this was an unnatural occurrence so he was allowed to act out of character. These people,- whether they accidentally or on purpose - had failed on their side of the tech and now Reed was somewhere with a tentacle creature. With just their luck, it might have actually been Cthulhu that had snagged Reed in that small breach in the Portals. Because if portals were real, why no H.P Lovecraft's hell beast. 

With Bucky and Natasha at his side, he was completely done with this shit, and he planned on being a less polite version of himself...let's just say he didn't take to people messing up tech when it affected him. Taken that one of these clones was him, - probably the impeccably dressed brunette grinning at him like he was the lottery - he was severally disappointed. 

He unholstered his gun, and pointed it directly at the woman's face.

"What the fuck did you do to Richards?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if this is confusing, I can't science for shit.


	5. Chapter | 5

"Well that's rude." Pantsuit - possible Tony - said.

"Listen ma'am, normally we would be having a nice chat, but your tech just messed up and opened another portal, and now my Reed Richards has been taken by Cthulhu." Tony huffed, the gun still was pointed straight at the woman but he could already feel himself deflating. This was pointless, they were outnumbered and he had only 18 minutes to open Portal 2 for Steve and his team. 

"My tech?!" The woman growled, stalking to stand up as close to Tony as possible with only the gun between them. This definitely had to be this worlds version of himself. "You come into my world and complain about my tech?!"

"Listen mini-mi, I'll explain everything, I'll even pocket away my gun and keep the two behind me on a leash, if you let me tinker with your machine."

Female Tony's eyebrows sky rocketed. "Let you 'tinker' with my machine." Her voice was flat. "Of course you can, I love it when strange men play with my toys."

Tony grinned and pocketed his gun. "Glad we're on the same page." he side stepped her and sprinted to the machines. He grinned when he came across the main computer and began typing in code, hoping he could get everything set up before Steve had to jump through Portal 2.

"Can someone please explain what is happening." A slightly deeper female voice asked. Tony glanced over his shoulder to see the female Captain America - she was in full uniform and everything - standing with her hands on her hips. They were very nice hips. Tony focus!!! he resisted the urge to scream and returned to coding. Apparently he wasn't resistant to any form of Steve Rogers. 

Natasha seemed to sense Tony wasn't going to answer so she walked up to the at least 6 foot Steve woman and stuck her hand out. "Natasha Romanov." Her hand stayed between the two awkwardly before Steve woman seemed to get a grip of herself. "Captain Stephanie Rogers. You may call me Steph." She grasped Natasha's outstretched hand and they shook. 

The tension in the room seemed to lessen from that point on.

"That man over there is James Barnes - or Bucky." She pointed to Bucky who looked up slightly sheepishly from his conversation with a woman in red. They seemed to have hit off right away. Natasha seemed to give a pause as her gaze stayed on Bucky a bit to long. She then pointed to Tony.

"Computer monkey over there is Tony Stark." 

Tony stuck one hand behind his back and gave the bird. From the snort Bucky gave, he'd aimed it at the right person. The other Avengers from Earth 6 introduced themselves, and Natasha began telling them everything that had happened, up until now where she was explaining how Tony was trying to open the second portal. 

"I have about 5 minutes left." He grumbled. He racked his hands through his hair and let out a puff of breath, he was missing something but what? He swiveled in his seat and surveyed the lab, running his eyes over every nick and cranny until he finally spotted it.

In a corner behind the wastebasket was a thick, black cord that would work to give his side just enough juice to open the Portal 2. The only problem was that thing looked super heavy.

"Cap?" He called to the blonde and she twisted around to look at him. Her face looked surprised, as if she'd never heard that nickname before. "Would you mind helping me with that large cord over there?" he pointed and she nodded. He stood up from his seat and helped Steph the best he could with the cord. He directed her towards the main frame and in seconds it was plugged in. "Bingo." He grinned, clapping delightedly. 

"With only a moment to spare, Team Steve should be walking straight in." He placed a hand gently on Steph's arm and looked up the four inches to meet stunning blue eyes, the same endless blue as Steve. "Thanks for the help there Cap." Steph was blushing up a storm and managed to stumble out a few words along the lines of " Call me Steph."

"Sure thing buttercup." His chest constricted when her blush deepened. He felt a tap on his shoulder and he turned, an impatient looking Toni glaring at him. He could see the jealousy radiating off her and he forced himself not to appear smug. 

"Can you explain, oh smart one, what is so wrong with my Tech?"

Tony pursed his lips and did a quick checklist of the things her and her Reed had done to set up the machine. When he got to the arc reactor, she paused him.

"The what now?" Her features contorted in disbelief. "You think we'd use the arc reactor on something like this? And even if we needed to, how would we get it from Loki?

Tony blinked rapidly. "Get it from Loki?" 

"Yes." Toni rolled her eyes. Natasha and Bucky seemed to pick up on the situation and walked over. "Please explain." Natasha's tone gave no room to wiggle and Toni shifted from her feet.

"During the 'Great Battle' as we have so kindly dubbed it here, I was captured by Loki. The battle lasted for 2 years, and during that time 9 months of that was me creating the arc reactor. It was supposed to help power his sphere, hell if I know how he knew I could make it. He was very adamant only I could."

Tony almost made a choking noise. This woman in front of him hand't experienced what he had, didn't know how it felt to have the arc reactor inside of him, the only thing keeping him alive. He unconsciously raised a hand to his chest so he could feel it. 

"I take it the arc reactor is something different on your Earth?" Toni asked.

Tony completely ignored the question, instead spit-balling questions at her.

"Maria and Howard Stark?"

"Mom died two years ago in a car crash, dad is still alive."

"Obadiah?"

"That Stane guy right? My father and him ended their business arrangements a little before I became Iron Woman."

"Afghanistan?"

"Seems like an alright place, not exactly dying to visit but I'll go anywhere once."

"STARK INDUSTRIES?"

"Business is booming, everyone loves a Stark phone."

"J.A.R.V.I.S?" 

Toni fell silent at that and her eyes flickered to a woman standing in the corner. Tony hadn't noticed her apparently, she was floating slightly, her golden eyes staring straight into him. She had a purple catsuit and her skin was red. In the middle of her forehead was the familiar yellow stone.

"That's F.R.I.D.A.Y" Toni bit her lip, watching Tony's reaction. "Which means J.A.R.V.I.S is the AI currently?" 

Toni nodded.

"You had a maid or Nanny I presume named Friday?" 

"Nanny."

Tony laughed a little. "My situations reversed. Jarvis was my butler and I made him my main AI, then Ultron happened and poof, I got Vision and F.R.I.D.A.Y as my new AI."

He hadn't realized the rest of the Avengers seemed to have gone until silence filled the room. It was only FRIDAY, Toni, Steph, Natasha, Tony, and Bucky.

"What about you Mr.Questions? I was being nice to tell you all these things." Toni crossed her arms. Tony walked around her and headed towards a panel. He pried it open in seconds and found to his dismay just a jumble of wires.

"This is where the arc reactor should have gone, Reed used my..arc reactor a few months before he contacted me today about the portal. Needed to use a little juice up for a test he said. When I was in his lab earlier I managed to inspect the machine and found a small vial of the arc reactor, liquidated which does not make me feel comfortable at all, attached to the wires. That's what fucked the entire thing up."

"You're good at deflecting."

"We're Stark's its what we do." Tony pursed his lips.

"Then you should know, that doesn't work on another Stark." Toni put her hands on her hips and for a moment Tony just stared. While it was obvious the both of them had more of Howard's DNA, he could definitely see more Maria in her. From the way she titled her hips, to the stormy eyes. The only compliments he'd ever been given were of how closely he resembled his father. The great fucking Howard Stark. 

He blinked rapidly, touching his chest again.

"We don't exactly have time for a big heart felt discussion so I'll just say an abusive childhood, betrayal, and alcohol made me the man I am today."

He closed the panel and faced his audience. Friday's face completely blank. Toni was frowning and Steph looked downright horrified, even though Tony had explained that much. Natasha and Bucky already knew the story but they gave him sympathetic looks.

"Oh Tony." Steph took a step forward, unsure what to do.

"I'm good there Cap, nothing to do about it now." He then turned to look at Natasha and froze. "Um guys." He pointed behind her. "The portal's turning on and its black around the edges again."

______________________________________

Steve tried not to look like a wounded puppy as Tony, Bucky, and Natasha vanished. The portal closed within seconds. "OK, we have twenty minutes Tony said before it opens again, and then we only have 48 hours to come back here." He addressed Wanda, Sue, Ben, Bruce, and the newly arrived Peter. He frowned looking at the line-up. Sue would probably not go, she usually would go into battle but the way she looked about to crumble wasn't good. Ben would obviously stay for her. Peter had to fix the machine, leaving him with Wanda and Bruce, the latter looking not at all excited at the prospect of having to go. 

"Wait, Steve, I have a friend that could actually fix this faster than me." Peter suddenly objected, his body shaking with newfound energy at the prospect of going with them through the portal instead of being on tech duty. 

Steve frowned, he didn't want the kid to go through something so dangerous. Tony would probably let him on board right away but Steve was always more cautious when it came to these decisions.

"I can stay and supervise the kid Peter's talking about." Bruce added.

Steve sighed, that meant just trading one man for another, but he still felt they needed one more person."Wanda, do you think you could get one of the guys from Europe?" He watched her nod and then vanish with a poof. A moment later she was back with Clint, who looked disgruntled and like he'd rolled out of bed.

"Hello to you all too." He grumbled.

"Ok, someone fill in Clint, I'll wait up front with Peter for his friend and then we are leaving." He shot Clint an apologetic look and started walking to the door, Peter trailing behind him.

15 minutes to go.

__________________________________________

 

"This is just not my day is it?" Tony groaned. In seconds he had his gauntlets assembling around his hands. The tentacle shot out wildly, smacking the walls with enough force to dent it.

He fired a blast, clipping a tentacle. The creature howled and the tentacle wiggled harder, curling in on itself. 

"Cthulhu is going down, I repeat, Cthulhu is going down." Tony smiled, firing again. Steph was running up to it, trying to get a grip. Tony had no idea what the woman was thinking, was she trying to pull it out of the portal? Yank off a tentacle?

Friday was getting closer to the tentacle, her gaze tense. Tony watched in awe and horror are tentacle started to rip. The creature howled more, and what was left of the tentacle flopped to the floor of the lab, the stub retracting back into the portal.

"Fuck." 

Reed was back inside the lab, his face twisting in confusion. "What the hell happened here?" He stalked into the room, wincing at the dents in the wall and overturned tables and piles of paper on the floor. "I leave you guys alone and -." He never finished the sentence.

Another tentacle was reaching in, heading straight for Reed. Steph seemed to realize this and rushed straight for Reed, her shield raised towards the tentacle. 

Tony grunted and ran after her, nearly tripping over his female counterpart who was focusing more on the tentacle than on the Steph and Reed situation.

Why the hell did Steph have to be as careless as Steve was, always rushing to be the white knight.

The tentacle grabbed Steph's shield and she struggled, still blocking Reed. In the next few seconds Tony knew what to do. He fired a repulser, the tentacle snapped back, giving Tony just enough time to dive at Steph.

The tentacle was back at it again, this time hitting Tony square in the back as him and Steph toppled to the floor. A second tentacle was joining the first, heading straight towards them. He got on his knees and almost buckled from trying to stand. Placing himself in front of Steph, he steadied himself on one arm and his legs and lifted a hand to fire at the new arrival. 

His back was burning it seemed and he managed to fire one shot before collapsing, purposefully draping himself over Steph, because Steph was basically Steve, and Tony was a reckless protective bastard around Steve. 

He could see out of the corner of his eye one of the tentacles retreating with Reed in its grip. Toni was firing wildly, yelling curse words. The portal closed and Tony allowed his eyes to close as the darkness washed over.


	6. Chapter | 6

Tony had felt like this many times before. Too many times in his childhood, too many times in his teenage and young adulthood, too many times in general. He could hear a low hum next to his head and he weakly tried to swat it away, but his hand barely lifted up.

  
"Thank god you're all right."

  
He strained his ears to try and figure out who had just said that. He could feel his senses slowly coming back to him. His arms felt heavy, his back was aching like a bitch, and all he could smell was something sweet and woodsy.

  
"Steve?" He croaked out, forcing his eyes open.

  
The face staring down at him was eerily familiar, but not the same. The features were softer, and longer hair was framed over her face as she tilted her head down. She gave a slow smile. "You're pretty close. It's Steph."

  
He blinked a few times, finally registering he was in her lap.

  
"How long was I out?"

  
"Only a few minutes. I was about to take you down to med bay."

  
Tony shuddered at the last two words. Anything to do with white, chilly rooms that smelled like antiseptic gave him the creeps. Even the one in his tower was rarely used by himself unless one of his teammates forced him to go down there.

  
He struggled to sit up, but gave a small yelp when his back burned in protest.

  
"You're just like Toni." Steph said with a shake of her head. She helped him to his feet, keeping a steady but gentle hand on his body. "Probably just horribly bruised." He stepped cautiously, and when he didn't cripple to the ground, he slightly moved away from Steph to clear his head from the familiar scent and her warm touch. "Nothing to worry about Capsicle."

  
Steph looked at him strangely again, and was about to say something when suddenly Natasha was at his side, her cold hand cupping his cheek. "What did we talk about?" She asked her tone brisk, with just a hint of worry.

  
"Don't go jumping in front of people or animals, and endangering yourself when the teammate is capable of handling themselves." He mumbled, leaning into her cold touch. She gave him a look but kept her hand on his cheek. "We now have 47 hours and 12 minutes." She said nonchalantly. As if even a few missed minutes didn't mean danger, or major consequences.

  
"So that means Steve's Team has gone through the portal to tentacle hell." Tony rubbed the bridge of his nose, thoughts racing through his brain. "Now we lost the Reed on this side. What is it with Cthulu's and Reeds? A lovers quarrel? Maybe on their planet you get a prize if you get the scientist that keeps opening portals to Earth, must get really annoying for those aliens to be walking down the road and suddenly end up in Malibu."

  
When Tony was met with silence he winced. "Not the time for jokes I see." He let out a low whistle and started pacing, ignoring the pain in his back. "Ok, we have some options."

  
"But you're back-." Steph started, but at the same time both Toni's said, "It'll be fine after an icepack and some arnica gel."

  
"I have my own shinning twin." Tony said smiling. Toni cracked a smile but closed off when she saw Steph inching closer to Tony. Sensing a chill settling around Toni, he walked closer to his teammates from Earth 1.

  
"I'll be good for now, why don't we just focus on the options we have. The only ones that I can think of are currently leaving this place to go help the other team find out Reed, and let these people here find their Reed. Or option 2, we stay and help them find Reed by going through this portal and finding their Reed."

  
Bucky and Natasha looked at him intently. "Hey, its not up to me, we're a three person team right now."

  
As an afterthought, Tony mumbled, "Steve is going to be so pissed with either option."

  
"Stevie can handle it." Bucky said smiling. "It's not like he has to know."

  
"He always knows." Tony said gloomily.

  
Bucky laughed. "That is true, he's a bloodhound that one."

  
"I think we should stay and help with their Reed. After all we did solve the problem on this side, and we have time left. As long as we make it back to our side to open the portals we'll be all good." Natasha said. Tony nodded. It made sense, and he'd be an utter asshole to leave his counter part and her friends to their own devices.  
"Well, looks like you're going to have some help." Tony beamed sticking his hand out to Toni.

  
"Partners?" He asked. Toni eyed his hand like it was a dead fish but shook it. "Partners." Her eyes bore into his and for a split second he wished he could have retracted the offer. Because he knew himself all to well and those eyes - as different as they were - were his and he could see a storm brewing.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

 

"What the fuck is this place?"

  
"Clint..." Steve gave his friend a look that caused the archer to sulk.

  
"Come on man, look at this place." He was acting like a kid in a candy store. Maybe Peter was rubbing off on him. Said kid was running around like a lightning beam, touching the trees, the grass, everything that was accessible.

  
"Looks like they have you beat Captain." A hand landed on Steve's shoulder and he looked over to see Wanda smiling at him, her small hand squeezing his shoulder reassuringly. "As long as they don't go to far or forget why we're here." Steve grumbled.

  
"Yo boy next door and pretty lady, does this black sludge belong to the thing that captured Richards?"

  
Steve looked to were the voice had come from and looked at Deadpool, his body hunched over a large pile of black sludge by the base of a tree. "Wanda." Steve said, motioning to the slime. She nodded and walked over to Deadpool to look at the slime.

  
Something about Deadpool rubbed him wrong. He was a friend of Peter's and had shown up along with the tech friend of Peter's - Ned- that was to stay with Bruce fixing the machine. Steve needed all the help he could get, and the guy seemed pretty normal, until they'd gotten through the portal and he'd begun talking to himself. And his jokes... Steve was anything but comfortable with Deadpool but he'd do what he had to do. And Deadpool? What kind of name was that?

  
"Steve!" Wanda called and Steve jogged over. "It's a clear match, and the trail leads off that way." She pointed off into the distance were Steve could see a semi path made by the weight of the creature as it mushed all the grass underneath it as it crawled along.

  
"Wonderful. Clint how much time we have?" Steve asked.

  
"47 hours and 29 minutes." Clint called back. Steve breathed in sigh of relief, hopefully the creature wasn't that far ahead. They'd grab Reed, kill the creature, and rush back to the portal and have Tony close everything down. He did not like this dimension one bit, it seemed to perfect. The crickets were chirping like back home, but they sounded softer and more eerie, the trees were lush, the grass was shiny, the sky was shiny, everything seemed too shiny. Everything also seemed off, like the graphics were turned on too high. He'd learned that from when Tony had taught him how to play sims 4, and showed him the differences in graphics between all the Sims games 1,2,3&4.

  
"Let's get a move on then." The group walked off following the trail of black sludge. Steve led the way, his eyes and ears working overtime to catch anything, Wanda trailing behind him, talking aimlessly about a new outfit Tony was creating for her; Peter was hanging onto every joke Deadpool was telling him, the younger teen innocently enough leaning closer to his friend. All were blissfully unaware of the bright blue eyes that followed their every move.


	7. Chapter | 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a filled chapter in a way, to introduce more characters.

The room was covered in a faint odor, slightly musty like an old closet. The floors were marble and well polished, reflecting the ceiling that showed a stormy sky. The walls were a dark green, covered in vines that writhed and moved on their own. The only furniture was a dark velvet clothed throne. A woman sat on it, looking slightly out of place.

She had tanned skin and bright blue eyes that sparkled like diamonds, even without any light. The eyes followed the man before her who was walking back and forth. He had his hands behind his back and he was scowling.

"Must you keep pacing?" Her soft voice filled the large room. It was tinged with annoyance,for the pacing had been going on for quite some time. She was surprised that he hadn't worn the floor down from passing over it so many times.

The man looked up with a startled expression. "Sorry my love." He said running a hand through his sleeked back, black hair. "Just of all times for Ragnarok to happen." He bit his lip and walked over to the throne. "Whatever would my father say." He grumbled.

The woman stood from the throne and wrapped her arms around the taller mans waist from behind. "It is not certain." She spoke slowly, she readjusted her grip around his waist and threaded their hands together. She stared down at the contrasting colors of their skin. White as snow and caramel coffee. "Seidr is a warning that can be heeded." She titled her head slightly so she could nuzzle his throat with her nose. She could feel him sinking backwards into her and she placed her feet more firmly in the ground to keep them both upright.

"What did the norn say?" She asked kissing his neck, pleased when he relaxed even more.

"I love when you speak in our language." He said tilting his head more to look into her eyes. 

"Witch sounds so distasteful." She said, moving away from him after she was sure he wouldn't fall over. She walked back to the throne and tapped the back of it three times. A small scroll slid out and she brought it over to her husband.

"Loki, tell me what it says." She said setting the scroll gently in his hands. He looked down at it distastefully.

"In simpler terms, doom."

"Just doom?" She asked rising an eyebrow. "That has been every scroll so far."

Loki sat down on the throne and opened the scroll, miles upon miles of paper ran down the throne to the floor and continued going til the doors until Loki yelled "stop!"

The scroll stopped, and started rolling back up. It stopped with only half a pages worth of paper showing. 

Loki cleared his throat and began reading.

>  
> 
> _"Two worlds will collide_
> 
> _taking men side by side_
> 
> _trespassers on foreign land_
> 
> _an angered woman makes a stand_
> 
> _as a god loses what they love most_
> 
> _the fate of life a ghost_
> 
> _a favorite pet runs wild_
> 
> _playing games with deaths child_
> 
> _a bargain will be made_
> 
> _a corpses price willingly paid_
> 
> _before the night turns to day_
> 
> _the world falls just 48 hours away"_

 

Loki looked up from the scroll and shut it with a sharp 'thwack'

"These just keep getting better and better." He sighed putting his hands in his head, the scroll digging into his forehead.

"Sigyn?" He asked when his wife remained quite. 

He looked up to see her standing there, her eyes watering. The ceiling had changed to a bright white, like the sun was directly above them. And in this moment she was absolutely beautiful.

Her pale blonde hair stood out more against her skin, her blue eyes had changed to full crystal, meaning she was having a vision. While that should worry Loki, he was still entranced. The golden robe showed off her figure. Slender calves, muscled arms, thin waist. The body of Apollo, one of the Gods the Greeks had created oh so long ago.

"They are in my forest." She snarled. 

Sigyn was the gentle lamb to his powerful lion. She had stayed with him throughout his entire punishment, stopping the acid from falling into his eyes with a bowl. She had always and would always be there for him.

But she could also be terrifying. She was a dream that started out out perfectly normal and then suddenly it was a nightmare world. She was very possessive, jealous, and loved revenge. She had things she kept from others, even Loki.

The forest was a dimension she had created for herself, a haven to escape everything. And it had been invaded.

She made eye contact with Loki as the ceiling returned to a stormy sky and her eyes went back to blue.

"The seidr was right." She hissed stalking past him to the throne. From behind it she pulled out a long, brown staff. It had brown branches wrapped around it and just looked like a normal stick. She let out a low whistle and the staff was engulfed in a golden haze. A cloud of green formed itself into a ball at the top and transformed into a glass cube. The green cloud was now inside the glass cube, swirling angrily.

"What do you mean?" Loki asked, hesitant to approach her from years of experience. 

" _Trespassers on foreign land, an angered woman makes a stand_." Nobody has ever went into _my_ forest until now, this is not a coincidence." She grabbed Loki by his shirt collar and with her other hand slammed the staff into the ground.

The floor cracked and a powerful orange light showed through. Sigyn murmured some words and Loki and Sigyn were whisked away.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok  
> 1\. I apologize for that prophecy thingie oh my god its so crappy and I spent a lot of time on it so it makes it even crappier.  
> 2\. I'm sorry if I get some myths wrong. I'm not that well versed in Norse mythology, Greek mythology is more my thing. Also there's not much about Sigyn so I took creative license with her. Hopefully I portrayed her in a way you guys will like?


	8. Chapter | 8

Bucky watched with curious eyes as Steph brought in her shield. It wasn't as patriotic as Steve's was, instead it was just a dark blue. It also seemed more worn than the one Bucky knew, but who was he to judge. He'd also noticed his counter parts arm wasn't as up to date as his own was.

"Ok so, we honestly don't have a real clue of where the hell we are once we go through that portal. Hopefully it'll be opening where Steve's team is." Tony said tearing his eyes away from the monitor to look at his team.

"Is this everyone that's going?" He asked, surveying the 5 people standing in front of the portal. Natasha and Bucky were obviously going, as were Toni, and Steph, but Wanda was an addition Tony hadn't expected. He was of course fine with the girl coming with, though the looks she kept throwing him told him a different story between this Earth's Toni and Wanda than his own experiences.

They all nodded to him and he sighed, pulling away from the computer to hand it over to Earth 6's Bruce. 

"Alright then, we're all geared up, let's go save the Reeds." Tony smiled largely and joined the others, waiting for Bruce to open the portal. All 6 of them stepped in, the Earth 1 part of the group already slightly used to the unnaturalness of the portal. Tony was about to speak up to tell the others to  _feel_ for where they were supposed to go when the scene entirely shifted and they were on another planet.

Tony squinted as he took in his surroundings, the sun shining high above them all. The grass was a bright green and seemed to sparkle almost. Their entire surroundings looked like someone had dunked everything in glitter.

"Anyone else feel like everything's just a tad to perfect?" Toni grumbled, taking a few steps towards a cluster of what looked like strawberry bushes. The others joined her as she bent down to examine the bush.

"They're all identical." She huffed. "Every leaf, every berry, bet if we had a measuring tape it'd help prove they're all the same."

"Like someone copy and pasted it." Bucky said wearily, his body tensed.

Wanda was frowning at something up ahead but nobody had noticed yet, everyone was still looking at the strawberries. Wanda glanced at the group before walking away, her eyes fixated on the black sludge she could see further up ahead. 

"The creature went through here." She called back to the group.

Tony took a light jog to get to her and squeezed her shoulder. She looked at the hand and then at him in surprise. He decided to ignore it and motioned for everyone to start moving forward to follow the black sludge trail the monster had so kindly left behind.

"Also, a reminder," Tony stuck his arm up high for everyone to see and showed them the watch on his wrist, "we now have 46 hours and 28 minutes." He brought his arm down and started punching buttons on his watch. Natasha caught up to him so they were leading the group with the others walking two by two on the narrow path the sludge was leading them on- Toni with Steph and Bucky with Wanda.

"My signal is jammed." Tony said under his breath, tapping his watch impatiently.

"I figured it wouldn't work in a place like this", Natasha commented, "which means we can't track Steve's group."

Tony nodded, sighing with defeat. "Hopefully there aren't multiples of these creatures and we're following the same path as the others."

The group continued on their way for a while, taking in their surroundings. A bird had flown onto Steph's shoulder and tweeted at her excitedly but that was all that had happened. Wanda had almost blasted the poor thing off her friends shoulder but Bucky had managed to stop her with a few, careful spoken words. Natasha had watched their interaction with a strange look and Tony decided not to comment on it.

Natasha dropped back a little to match her pace with Steph and Toni and both women regarded her with curiosity and suspicion.

"So, you said you spent 9 months on the arc reactor?" Natasha asked, not bothering to try and work her way into that kind of topic.

Toni raised an eyebrow and nodded her head. "Were you with Loki that entire time?" Natasha continued, ignoring the glare she was getting from Steph. Toni cleared her throat nervously and scratched the back of her head. "Mostly...he wasn't really there. There was another woman there, she was nice." She sighed heavily and crossed her arms. "What's with all the questions red?" 

Natasha shrugged her shoulders, contemplating her answer. "I want to know how different this world is from my own." She answered honestly. 

"Take Steph over here with her shield." Natasha motioned towards it with her hand.

Tony snorted from in front and turned around. "Let's just say our Captain America is very patriotic. Freedom, justice, red, white, and blue." Tony stuck his chest out and gave a mock salute.

"Don't forget language,"Bucky said from the back of the line. Natasha, Bucky, and Tony laughed at that.

"There's all these little differences and so many things the same." Natasha continued. "Our Captain America is Steven Rogers. You have Friday we have Vision, Your Pietro is...alive." She paused at that, catching Wanda's reaction out of the corner of her eyes. "But the personalities are so alike, and some of our people are the same. Both Reed's are exact carbon copies of each other."

"Wait, what do you mean our Pietro is  _alive_ ?" Wanda exclaimed. 

Natasha winced at the tone Wanda was using. "On our Earth...did you guys have Ultron?" She changed gears midway, deciding it'd be better to start with Ultron.

"Ultron was never successfully created." Toni said bitterly, casting a look at Wanda.

Tony bit his lip and scratched the back of his neck nervously, really, really wishing they weren't having this conversation.

"Natasha." He said softly, giving her his best  _please be quiet_ look that wouldn't offend her. She shook her head and he sighed and sat down on a flat rock that was by the trail which made the rest of the group take pause. Bucky leaned against a tree, his gaze never off of their surroundings but he was clearly paying partial attention to Natasha and Tony. Natasha herself sat beside Tony while the others just stood around. 

"On our Earth, Ultron was successful."

Toni looked ready to interrupt but Natasha held her hand up. "It went in a direction none of us could've perceived, Ultron became sentient."

"Went terminator instead of Jarvis 2.0." Tony muttered, keeping his head down and his knees drawn closer in.

"There was a fight in Sokovia...Pietro and our Wanda worked for Ultron, there was tension between them and Tony... but we managed to show them what was really happening and they began to work with us and then, Pietro saved one of our team members-Clint- by stepping between Clint and some bullets and he was shot down. Died on the spot."

There was a heavy silence that couldn't even be penetrated by the sweet cooing of birds and the crickets chirps.

"I..I mean Wanda and Pietro worked with Ultron? What on Earth.." Wanda trailed off, disbelief on her face.

"For me and Toni-" She cut herself off with a sharp glare from Toni.

"We had a similar experience." Was what Wanda finished with, her hands clenching at her side.

"But. What did Tony do?" Wanda asked, clearly not realizing that wasn't the best question.

Tony briskly stood up and brushed some loose rock off the bottom of his pants. "I suggest we continue on our way, we want to save the Reeds don't we?" 

Tony began walking and the others started filing in behind him, silent.

"You shall not pass!" A feminine voice growled from ahead of them in the path and they all drew their weapons as a woman appeared in front of them, her eyes blazing like a blue storm. She had a large brown staff wrapped in branches in one hand. On top of the staff was a rather ominous transparent cube with a strange green gas floating around inside it. The sky above them changed to match the woman's mood- gray and cloudy, and the winds began picking up.

"Woah Gandalf, you're the one who kidnapped our friends, what's with all the anger?" Tony pointed his repulser at the woman, his mouth in a grim line.

"Kidnapped your friends?" She hissed. "You are trespassing on my realm, how you even got here is unimaginable!"

"We came through a portal like everyone else lady."

"Everyone...else."

Tony blanked. "Whoops." He said sheepishly.

"There are more of you here?" She switched from complete anger to shock, her eyebrows rising high."How could I not have felt all of you." She said more to herself.

"Listen, we're just here for our friends. Two scientists that are quite handsome- not as handsome as me- that were taken by your Cthullu." Tony pointed his other hand at the black sludge on the trail.

"Cthullu?" The woman was completely bewildered and the group of mix mashed Avengers weren't entirely sure what to do.

"They're talking about your  _pets_." A familiar voice to most of them said, and out of the shadows stepped out Loki. The woman looked at him and then followed Tony's finger which had just dropped at the appearance of the trickster god- and frowned at the black sludge. 

"They shouldn't be here." She tapped the staff against the ground and it vanished.

"H-he shouldn't be here." Toni squeaked, her voice slightly wavering. Steph immediately started to step in front of her, shield ready.

Loki regarded her with a look none of the Avengers had ever seen from him before. "I'm sorry mid-guardian but I do not know you." his brows furrowed in confusion, "And while it is true I shouldn't be here, my wife dragged me here." He said with a small smile.

"Wife?" Natasha asked losing composure for once of the few times in her life. "Which Earth did you invade?" She asked.

Bucky shifted uncomfortably as Loki's gaze caught his. "I have never invaded an Earth before." Loki turned his attention away from Bucky and looked at Natasha offended. "Ask James over there."

James opened his mouth but nothing came out as everyone turned to look at him.

"Oh..I don't think. I'm not." Bucky really wanted to crawl into a hole at that moment.

"Let's clear things up a little bit." Steph said. "Me, Toni, and Wanda, come from another Earth than these other 3."

"Earth 6 to be exact, Natasha, Bucky,and I are Earth 1." Tony interjected with a smirk.

"And I believe that you must know another version of Bucky. Seeing as you don't recognize anyone but him and he doesn't seem to recognize you." Steph said earning a nod from Loki.

"Seem's plausible." The god muttered, bringing out a scroll that he studied for a few seconds before his wife snatched it."

"There,  _a favorite pet runs wild_ , it has to be talking about my Krakens."

Both Tony's spluttered. 

"No way." Tony said.

"Whatever took our Reed was much smaller than a Kraken." Toni said with disbelief. "And it's walking on land..or slithering."

"I modified the usual Kraken's to a smaller stature, to be used as pets for Sigyn's birthday, worst decision of my life." Loki grumbled. Sigyn threw him a look before looking at the scroll and scowling.

"I think one of your worst decisions was letting loose your daughter." She hissed slamming the scroll shut. Loki flinched back as the staff reappeared in her hands. 

"I'm sorry, what do you mean dear?"

" _P_ _laying games with deaths child,_ now who do you think that's about, who likes my Krakens almost as much as I do and has a terrible destruction spree." 

Loki seemed to pale and he spoke a name hoarsely.

"Hela."

 

 

 


End file.
